by the way, the clintons will join the obamas along with george w. bush and laura bush at nelson mandela's memorial services in south africa. president bush senior is unable to make the long journey. former president carter has yet to release his plans. >>> in this country for millions of americans tonight, the news is a massive ice storm churning through the center of the country east of the mississippi river, most of it. several deaths are already being blamed on the storm, and it's going to be a big factor on into the weekend. we begin our coverage with nbc's ron mott in memphis for us tonight. ron, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian. good evening to you. here's what we are dealing with in memphis. freezing rain is coating all the trees, as you can see here. they have a big marathon planned for tomorrow. tonight it's the cars running on the icy roads and they are trying to get home safely from texas to ohio. getting from point "a" to point "b" has been dicey today as a major winter storm pounded the country with snow and ice, cutting power to m